Veda Krishnamurthy's Australian sojourn and a steep learning curve

January 12 2018 by Gaurav Joshi

For the majority of her first day with the Hobart Hurricanes India's latest Women's Big Bash recruit, Veda Krishnamurthy, tried her best to explain to her teammates how to pronounce her first name correctly. But by the time they mastered saying the two syllables, she had already been given a nickname that would remain for the rest of the season.

"They kept saying Vay-da and I was like 'It's Ve-dha'. So eventually it just turned into a nickname 'Darth' or 'Darthy, from the Star Wars character Darth Vedar. You tend to get a nickname when you play in Australia. So that's what has stuck now - it's all good fun." she tells Cricbuzz with a smile.

Veda might be comfortable in her purple Hurricanes track suit now, but the day she landed in Hobart, she admits to being slightly nervous ahead of her first day at training. "I was a bit jet-lagged and a little worried because I didn't know anyone. To be honest that can be hard for anyone."

But a couple of days later Veda surprised herself with the way she was able to recollect all her teammates names and the way she was able to gel with the group. It gave her the confidence that she could live outside her 'bubble' and familiarise herself in a foreign country."I thought it would take me a lot longer to learn the names and put a name to the face. But my captain [Corrine Hall] was terrific, she is always talking, laughing and communicating and that suits my personality, so I was able to settle in.

"To be able to come out of the comfort zone and to play out here in Australia, different culture and you need to adapt to it [on and off the field]- that is a real challenge for you as a player.

"Once you cultivate to adapt quickly, then you become free as a person. Otherwise you get home sick and you stay in that comfort zone and start feeling weirder inside. You realise you need to come out of it. I'm glad that I could push myself and settle in with new friends and new environment."

On the field, Veda is still coming to grips with the Australian conditions. The Hurricanes are struggling to find the right combinations after the departures of experiences players such as Amy Sattherwaithe, Julie Hunter and Erin Burns. Veda, however, is not getting frustrated and believes this journey will only help her fine tune her skills and mature as a cricketer."Playing in different situations will always help me improve. This sort of tournament you are always on the edge - so that is when you end up learning what to do.

"There have been a lot of situations where I have been in different situations and be in the future and I'm sure those situations will be similar to when I play for India. If I have that exposure in these sorts of tournaments, it is only going to help me handle the situation better.

"I'm sure I can come up with a different plan if one part doesn't work out, probably I can come up with something else. It is really important I play as many games as possible."

Nothing hurts Veda more that the fact that she was not able to guide India to victory in the World Cup final, but instead of dwelling on the disappointment, she is keen to master the role as a finisher. "When you play as a finisher it is important you pick your bowler. It happens in such a way, the best bowlers would be bowling at the end.

"You will have one or two over's in between where you have to cash in, you have to be really good at analysing who that bowler is because in T20 cricket it comes so fast, you don't get much time. You also have to take the bowler into the consideration if the bowler is going to bowl to your strengths. It is important to identify that."

During her stint in the WBBL, Veda has experienced from close quarters the way the women's game is promoted via the media and events in Australia. She has already appeared on the front of sport pages, spoken at Hurricanes events and also done a radio gig at the local radio station. Asked if India should learn from the way the women's game is promoted in Australia?

"It has been in the system for a very long time. Cricket Australia has had plans from a long-time ago. I speak to some of the players and it took some time to start off, it is not an overnight process."

The success of the WBBL and the accomplishment of the Indian women's team in the recent past have prompted many experts to call for a Women's IPL in India, but Veda believes it needs to be initiated via the right channels and with a decisive plan. "We [Indian team] have been doing really well in the recent times. We have performance to back us - it will take time and you need to build that culture. "It is also important to think how to make it women's cricket successful. You cannot just implement something and then see how it runs, you need a clear picture. You need to plan properly and I think BCCI is just holding back because if or when they start something it needs to be something real big.

"You don't want it to be just hit and miss, because if it fails then you might end up going backwards.

"Women game audience is increasing day by day. It is important they cash in on it. They are looking into it and they want to they want to ensure everything falls into place properly."

On her off days Veda finds herself socialising with her friends back home in India and also being driven around in Hobart by her teammate, Hayley Matthews. One thing she has become a fond of during her frequent visits around the Hobart city centre is the quality of the food. "No, I have actually haven't been craving for Indian food too much.

"The options for healthy food is a lot more accessible here than in India. Every supermarket in Australia has all the healthy foods while in India we would probably have one or two stores in the city where you have to literally travel a lot to find healthy food."

So then has she tried her luck at cooking? "No, I can't cook - Hayley Matthews has been cooking for me and looking after me like a little sister" she says with a smile. "Although, I have promised everyone that I will get some recipes from my friends and cook for them. But I really can't cook and I don't cook back home either, so let's see how I go or what I do".

After an indifferent start to her maiden WBBL stint, Veda's eventually starting to make a difference on the field. However, Hurricanes coach Julia Price believes, more importantly 'Darthy or Darth' or 'Vay-da' has certainly added a different style and brought a new dimension to the team. "Tasmania is quite isolated from different cultures so I thought having an Indian around in the team would be really good and to be honest Veda has done that really well." Price says.